Saved From The Cutting Room Floor…”If I Only Had A Heart”
Saved From The Cutting Room Floor…”If I Only Had A Heart”
Few know that Buddy Ebsen was the original TIn Man in ‘The Wizard Of Oz’. Actually he was cast as The Scarecrow, but with the directors permission, he and Ray Bolger swapped roles. Only a few photos and a this super rare recording of him in that role exist.
This photo shows him in full makeup and that’s what almost killed him…the makeup, which was mostly an aluminum powder. After a few weeks of inhaling the powder, he had a violent reaction and was rushed to the hospital where he stayed for nearly a month. He was replaced by Jack Haley and the aluminum powder was changed to an aluminum paste.
As I understand it, “If I Only Had A Heart”, The TIn Man’s only solo was recorded by Ebsen the day before his collapse on the set. I have heard that Ebsen’s voice is intact on at least one of the many reprises of “We’re Off To See The Wizard”.
‘The Munsters’…Unaired Color Pilot And Some Surprises!
‘The Munsters’…Unaired Color Pilot And Some Surprises!
What do ‘The Musters’ and ‘Leave It To Beaver’ have in common?
The two men that produced ‘The Munsters’…Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher…that’s what. They created ‘Leave It To Beaver’ and before that, wrote over 1,500 episodes of ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy.
Here’s another surprise…the show only ran for two seasons! Seems much longer than that doesn’t it? Season one started September 24, 1964 with 38 episodes. Season two ended May 12, 1966 with the 32nd episode.
The link at the top takes you to the color pilot of the show which is in two parts. Yvonne DeCarlo as Lilly and Butch Patrick as Eddie were added after the pilot replacing Joan Marshal as Phoebe Munster. Patrick replaced Happy Derman as Eddie. The screen credits are a couple of minutes in. Enjoy and share!
Pretty Maids All In A Row…
Pretty Maids All In A Row…
Last month I posted the other four pix from this ABC event at Pebble Beach in the late 60s, but just found this fifth photo I had forgotten about. These are the dozen TK41Cs that Roone Arlidge ordered for ABC in 1966.
RCA had orders for a dozen more from production houses and TV stations that they had been holding till they could get a run of at least 24 and when the ABC order came, the did the last TK41 run.
On the left is the nose of a TK60 used for graphics and in the distance are a dozen Norelco PC60s.
The Ultimate Mailbox For A Television Guy…
The Ultimate Mailbox For A Television Guy…
A friend in Indiana is in the used broadcast gear business and has put some of his obsolete inventory to good use. Enjoy and share!
‘Queen For A Day’ ABC Hollywood
‘Queen For A Day’
Here is the ABC Hollywood crew for the show with a few of the iconic white ABC TK30s around 1949. One of the show’s telecast locations was the Earl Carroll Theater on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood and that’s where this photo was taken. In 1953, it was renamed The Moulin Rouge Theater and is called that in the show’s intro in the video below.
Ken Murray hosted the original radio version of the show on the Mutual–Don Lee Radio Network but on April 30, 1945, it came to ABC radio in New York City and when it moved, Jack Bailey became the host. A few months into the new show, it was moved back to Hollywood. The show aired five days a week, during the daytime and came to television in 1948. It was simulcast on ABC radio and television from 1948 -1955.
NBC picked up the show for national broadcast from January 3, 1956 to September 2, 1960 and it aired live at 4:30 EST. The show went back to ABC on September 5, 1960 and ran there until the final broadcast on October 2, 1964. Thanks to Chuck Pharis for the photo.
‘Person To Person’…Edward R Murrow Visits Robert F Kennedy
‘Person To Person’…Edward R Murrow Visits Robert F Kennedy
Murrow’s fifth season of ‘Person To Person’ debuted the evening of September 13, 1957 at 10:30. His first guest of the new season was Julie London, from her North Hollywood home.
The final fifteen minutes came from the Kennedy home in McLean, Virginia where a four camera crew was set up for the live interview with lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, who was then Counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee. Robert and his wife Ethel, their five children and a number of pets appeared with Morrow.
Here’s a photo from that night taken as Murrow was wrapping up the London interview and about to throw to the Kennedys. The cameraman could be David Brinkley’s twin brother. Enjoy and share!
July 31, 1995…The Circuit Is Reversed As Disney Buys ABC
July 31, 1995…The Circuit Is Reversed As Disney Buys ABC
Did you know that in the beginning, ABC invested in Disney?
In the early 1950’s, Walt Disney sought corporate sponsorship for his Mickey Mouse themed amusement park. Desperate to trump its more established competitors, the American Broadcasting Company, stepped in as one of Disneyland’s primary sponsors. Following a $500,000 investment to subsidize Disneyland’s construction, the ABC network received a 35% share of park profits and exclusive programming from Walt Disney Studios.
The sponsorship immediately paid dividends. In 1954 the ABC network began televising ‘Disneyland’, a series of hour long specials, which featured old Disney Films, studio documentaries and new Disney Studio features. The extremely popular Davy Crockett debuted on the Disneyland series, when “Davy Crockett, the Indian Fighter” aired in December 1954. The popularity of Disney programming boosted ABC’s ratings, and when Disneyland park opened in July of 1955, ABC aired the special event live.
Walt Disney continued to host the ‘Disneyland’ series, which was renamed ‘Walt Disney Presents’ in 1958. ABC aired the successful programs until 1961. A dispute over Disneyland profits and the ability to broadcast in color, pushed Walt Disney to move to NBC, where Disney hosted ‘Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color’, appearing on NBC until his death in 1966.
On July 31, 1995, Walt Disney Co. agreed to acquire Capital Cities-ABC Inc. in a $19 billion deal. The rest as they say “is history”. Enjoy and share!
Sports Television History…April 17, 1965
Sports Television History…April 17, 1965
In the photo, we see Leo Durocher welcoming Jackie Robinson to television in the brand new Shea Stadium. On April 17, 1965, Robinson became the first black network broadcaster for Major League Baseball.
In 1965, ABC provided the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts on a regional basis. ABC paid $5.7 million for the rights to the 28 Saturday/holiday Games of the Week. ABC’s deal covered all of the teams except the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, who had their own television deals with NBC and CBS. The agreement called for two regionalized games on Saturdays, Independence Day, and Labor Day.
Each Saturday, ABC would broadcast two 2 p.m. games and one 5 p.m. game for the Pacific Time Zone. ABC blacked out the games in the home cities of the clubs playing those games. At the end of the season, ABC declined to exercise its $6.5 million option for 1966, citing poor ratings, especially in New York. Enjoy and share!
Now THIS Is RARE! NBC Studio 5HN…TK41 Equipped
Now THIS Is RARE! NBC Studio 5HN…TK41 Equipped
This is the only photo that I know of that shows a camera in NBC’s 5HN. I’ve searched my files for this photo for weeks and just found it last night. This is the breaking news studio on the 5th floor at NBC NY.
After the Kennedy assassination in November of ’63 caught all of the networks unable to go to air with a live, on camera report, NBC decided to make Studio 5H a full time, always hot studio and renamed it 5HN. I think it may have originally been equipped with at least one RCA TK30 which was always on and ready.
It was probably sometime after 1965 that the studio got an RCA TK41 color camera which would be replaced around 1967 with one of the two RCA TK43s RCA left behind after their one time use on the November ’66 midterm election coverage from 8H.
Although it’s use on the network was occasional, WNBC used this studio nightly for a 2AM news update. I don’t remember where this photo came from, but there was a note with it that says this was taken in 1973. If that’s true, I would imagine that once the TK43 wore out, it was replaced by one of the many surplus TK41s NBC had in storage. If you know more and are able to add to this, please do! Enjoy and share!
ULTRA RARE! Inside NBC Radio Studio 6B In 1947…
ULTRA RARE! Inside NBC Radio Studio 6B In 1947…
Thanks to Alex Cumming, here is the only footage I have ever seen that puts us inside Studio 6B as a radio studio. This is our first and only trip into the stage side control room too.
This is the rehearsal, and later the broadcast of ‘The Bell Telephone Hour’. The conductor is Donald Voorhees, and the chief announcer is Floyd Mack. At around 15:45, announcer Tom Shirley steps in for a three minute Bell System spot.
The featured guest are singers Ezio Pinza and Blanche Thebom. This film was made to show in movie theaters as a promotion for the radio show. Enjoy and share!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT6BN_GnnWI
See more from the AT&T Archives at http://techchannel.att.com/archives Note that audio problems from 11:25 – 11:40 were present in the original source materi…
NBC Studio 6A…Before TV And After TV
NBC Studio 6A…Before And After, Side By Side
These two photos were taken from almost the same spot 18 years apart. This is Studio 6A in 1943 as a radio studio and in 1961 as a television studio.
Notice that even after the break of the lighter and darker parts of the stage floor, there is still a lot of room in the darker area which would have usually been behind the main set or a curtain. Barely visible on the back wall is a double door that opens into the back stage storage area. Enjoy and share!
NBC Studio 6A, Circa 1943…New Photos Just In
NBC Studio 6A, Circa 1943…New Photos Just In
Thanks to Alec Cumming, here are three new unwatermarked photos of NBC Radio Studio 6A just after it was built. As I mentioned yesterday in the 6B stories, 6A is a mirror image of B, with the on stage control room, observation deck window and twin double doors on the left wall instead of the right.
6B was converted to television in 1948. It was 1950 when 6A converted, but as early as the fall of ’48, some of the first ‘Chesterfield Supper Club’ television shows were being simulcast from 6A with one of NBC’s in house “mobile units” which each unit made up of three RCA TK30s on tripods and some extra floor mounted scoop lights. There were four units with three cameras each…they were color coded and referred to as the red, blue, green and yellow units with equipment marked with corresponding colored paint. More on that soon. Enjoy and share!
And Away We Go! Gleason Moving To Miami…
And Away We Go!
Jackie Gleason’s last show from his longtime home at CBS Studio 50 in New York, aired May 23, 1964. After the summer break, the show debuted from The Miami Beach Convention Center on September 26.
Below is a photo of Jackie and well known gossip columnist Hedda Hopper on the train from New York to Miami. Gleason had done another famous train trip/tour from NY to LA, and like this one, it was a non stop party all the way. More to come in the next post!
Can You Guess Who This Violinist Is? (Goldie Hawn’s Dad)
Can You Guess Who This Violinist Is?
Here are a few clues…
He is a descendant of Edward Rutledge, a signer of The Declaration of Independence. For many years, he was the conductor of Arthur Godfrey’s orchastra on his radio and television shows and conducted orchestras at several Presidential Inaugurations. He’s known Goldie Hawn all her life and even gave her her name. Who is this man?
Dean Martin & Greg Garrison…A Match Made In Showbiz Heaven
Dean Martin & Greg Garrison…A Match Made In Showbiz Heaven
Thanks to a comment and link shared here yesterday by our friend Andy Rose, we have a unique insight into how Greg Garrison produced and directed ‘The Dean Martin Show’, and later, ‘The Dean Martin Roasts’.
http://www.newsfromme.com/2005/04/01/greg-garrison-r-i-p/
The link above it so an article written by Mark Evanier in 2005. Mark is a writer and from time to time, he would wander into rehearsals at NBC Burbank in the ’60s. Along the way, he got a first hand view of how the show was done and the one-of-a-kind relationship that Dean Martin and Greg Garrison had. It is a fascinating story of trust and ability from both men.
As you will read, Dean’s level of “casualness” goes far beyond what we ever have ever heard before. It seems that the usual modus operandi was for Dean to come in the day of the taping, watch stand ins run through the show. After that, he would put on his tux and do what they did while reading from Q cards. There were guest complaints, but there was a trust that Martin had in Garrison and the writers that made it all work…for nine years.
By the way, this video is of the first ever episode that aired September 16, 1965. The guests that night were Frank Sinatra, Bob Newhart, Danny Thomas, Jack Jones and Steve Allen, plus Diahann Carol and Jodie Heatherton. Jan & Dean were also on the show and sang “Little Old Lady From Pasadena”. Enjoy the article and clip and share this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgcCfMo1HcY
Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra Part.I Show Variety No copyright. Sin los derechos de autor.
A Leisurely Stroll Down Memory Lane…WBOC, Circa 1964
A Leisurely Stroll Down Memory Lane…WBOC, Circa 1964
This video will start at the beginning of the television studios tour, but for engineering and radio fans, the tour starts at the transmitters and radio studios just before this.
WBOC is in Salisbury, Maryland and this twenty minute video has a very generous helping of RCA TK60 action from here on out. The visit to the control room is just after this segment and will bring back a lot of memories too! I hope you’ll share some of yours.
Thanks to our friend Bryan Durr at ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’ for sharing this link with us. Enjoy and share!
The First Color Picture I Ever Saw Of An RCA TK41…I Was Moved
The FIrst Color Picture I Ever Saw Of An RCA TK41
I was almost 13 when I first saw this photo and for a long time, I thought TK41s were light green. This was the front cover of an NBC magazine called ‘Star Time’ that introduced the 1963-64 fall lineup. If you sent them a postcard, they would send you one of these. Naturally, I sent two.
I can tell that this photo was taken at NBC Burbank by the shape of the viewfinder hood. They made their own custom versions in the shop there. The extra side vent is not unusual and some CBS TK41s had this too. This was and RCA aftermarket kit and came with vents for both doors. In the comment’s section is the full cover of the magazine. Did you have one of these magazines? NBC put these ‘Star Time’ magazines out for several years in the 60s and I think this was the first edition.
You Mean Godzilla Was Just A Guy In A Rubber Suit?
You Mean Godzilla Was Just A Guy In A Rubber Suit?
Yes, but not just any guy! It was Haruo Nakajima who’s now 85. He was considered by most to be the best “suit actor” in Japanese monster movie history. He started in 1954 with ‘Godzilla’ and played the role, and many other monsters for 23 years. Nakajima retired from suit acting upon completion of ‘Godzilla vs. Gigan’ in 1972, Enjoy and share!
‘ The Dean Martin Show’…September 16, 1965 – April 5, 1974
‘ The Dean Martin Show’…September 16, 1965 – April 5, 1974
If you watch this two minute clip, you’ll get the attitude of the show’s 9 year, 264 episode run, plus…a BIG surprise at the end!
An important key to Dean’s, and the show’s, popularity was the spontaneous, unrehearsed feel of each week’s production. Martin read his dialogue directly from cue cards and usually, if he flubbed a line or forgot a lyric, Martin would not do a retake and the mistake, and his recovery from it, went straight to tape and onto the air.
The show was done from NBC’s Burbank’s Studio 4 and was produced and directed by Greg Garrison. Among his Garrison’s first productions were ‘The Kate Smith Show’ and ‘Your Show of Shows’. He went on to produce and direct many television specials with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Donald O’Connor and many others. He was probably best known for producing and directing this show and ‘The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts’. He also directed one of television’s landmark 1960 presidential debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
During the summer months, Garrison kept Dean’s Thursday night time slot hot with some very good guest hosts. In 1966, Rowan and Martin hosted a few of Martin’s summer shows which were so well received that it put them on the trajectory as hosts of one of television’s most memorable series..’Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In’.
As you see in the photos, the show started with RCA TK41s, but later graduated to TK44s around 1968. Enjoy and share!
History With A Twist…Dick Clark Debuts A Landmark Song
History With A Twist…Dick Clark Debuts A Landmark Song
This video opens with Dick doing the intro in front of an RCA TK10 at ABC New York. This is August 6, 1960 and this is the first time ‘The Twist’ was performed on television, but this is not ‘American Bandstand’. It’s ‘Dick Clark’s Saturday Beechnut Show’.
‘American Bandstand’ was Clark’s hit weekday show, which aired after school from WFIL in Philadelphia, but on February 5, 1958 ABC gave Clark a 7:30 Saturday night slot on the network for the New York based Beechnut Show, which usually came from The Little Theater on West 44th Street in Manhattan, but for some reason, this night it was done from ABC’s studios on West 66th Street as you can tell by the bleacher seating.
‘The Twist’ was Dick Clark’s second venture with Chubby, and one of his first as a producer. The year before, Clark produced Checker on a novelty single called ‘The Class’ in which the singer portrayed a school teacher with an unruly classroom of musical performers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2zXff_8-6w
The song’s premise allowed Checker to imitate such acts as Fats Domino, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, Cozy Cole, and Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian Forte as The Chipmunks trio. Clark sent the song out as his Christmas greeting, and it received such good response that Cameo-Parkway signed Checker to a recording contract. That single became Checker’s first release, charting at #38 in the spring of 1959. Clark’s wife gave Ernest Evans his stage name by reworking Fats and Domino into Chubby and Checker.
Hank Ballard wrote The Twist and had recorded it in late 1958. The song became popular on a Baltimore television dance show hosted by local DJ Buddy Dean; Dean recommended the song to Clark. When the song proved popular with his audience, Clark attempted to book Ballard to perform on the show. Ballard was unavailable, and Clark decided to record the song with a local artist and who better than his friend Chubby Checker, whose voice was very similar to Ballard’s. Exposure for the song on ‘American Bandstand’ and on ‘The Dick Clark Saturday Night Show’ helped propel the song to the top of the American charts. Now you know the whole story. Enjoy the clip and share!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbK0C9AYMd8&feature=related
Chubby Checker – The Twist